A message before we begin. If you wish to skip this, please scroll down until you reach normal text

I just want to say thank you for clicking on Buried Regrets. Don't worry, this should be the only big message other than the one at the final chapter, but I just felt that, for those who are interested, some background is needed to understand why this is here.

As of this posting (November 1st, 2024), I've been a fan of Wings of Fire for a year and a half, and it's made a big impact on me. It was the first official story driven series I ever read despite being nearly 20, and as someone who enjoys writing, it made me appreciate the art of storytelling even more. Also helped to have a twin brother that's always around to talk about the series with.

While I enjoy the first arc, the second arc is my favorite. It just built off of the first one so well, and I found the characters to (somehow) be even better than the Dragonets of Destiny. Moon, Qibli, Kinkajou, and Turtle were all fun to read about, and I loved the mystery and tension in Moon Rising, something I wasn't expecting so soon after Book 5.

But the next book, Winter Turning, would confirm who my favorite character in this series was: Winter. I really enjoyed his story, his relationship with the Jade Winglet, and slowly watch his heart of ice become much warmer to others. My twin's favorite character was Qibli, so we made sure to quote conversations the two of them had with each other, and I loved it. I finished the 7th book, excited to see what the new Winter would do for his Winglet.

But then, at the end of Book 8, Darkstalker was freed.

Now, I love Escaping Peril. It was fun for her character to get a conclusion after being in the 1st and 5th book, and I especially love Darkstalker. One of my favorite villains ever, and one I wanted so badly to turn away from his evil ways. Just another reason to love "Finding Peace" (which you should read on this website as soon as you finish this. It's peak fanfiction). But when he got out, and it got around to Book 10, my biggest problem with the arc came up, and that was Winter's character.

He may have still been my favorite character, but he also became my least favorite character.

It felt like he was given the worst hand out of everyone, and would do nothing but make things worse for the gang. By the end of the second arc, I couldn't remember why Moon would ever choose him over Qibli, or if the IceWing was even useful to his friends to begin with. It just felt like the only things he did during the second arc would slow his friends down, and it felt rough finding out my favorite character sucked.

But then I read the GN of Winter Rising, and I was reminded that this dragon did do a lot of good things, and best of all, he didn't suck. He just got put into the worst situations.

But that gave me an idea. What if I made a story that played into that feeling?

I started writing the draft of this back in March, and now, here we are in at the start of November, with all six chapters ready to go. I made this with the hopes that I would be a better writer, and I believe I am just that.

Now, in order for this story to take place, nothing from Arc Three is cannon, so if you haven't read it yet, don't worry. You only have to read up to the end of Arc Two to fully understand what's going on. (But you should check out Arc Three. It's still very good) There are a few other tweaks that were made, but those will be mentioned in the story.

Again, I should state that despite my dislike of the way Winter acted in Book 10, I still love the work Tui puts into this series. Arc Two is still my favorite Arc, so it should speak volumes about how well everything else was handled, and I want to share my love for the series and my favorite character.

In short, this fanfiction is near and dear to me, and maybe a couple of people will read this, but that doesn't matter to me. I hope that YOU enjoy reading this, because as a writer, that's the job I wish to do for you, and I know I loved writing this.

That's all I have to share with you. Please enjoy what I have to offer. And if you read all of this, I thank you very much, and if you get the chance, play Solatorobo.

Chapter 1

"Father!"...

…...

"Stop it! Smokeseer! Eclipse! Don't do this! We don't want a war!"

"They want this war! We're defending ourselves and you should be fighting alongside us, traitor!"

BLAST*

"Ahhhh!"

….

BLAST* *BLAST*

"Don't you DARE talk to Moony like that!"

"Turtle? Turtle?!"...

"GAAAAHHHHHhhhhh..."

"Who's next? Who else hurt Clay?"

"I'm all right, Peril… oww."

"You all stop fighting and talk this out like Sunny says, or I will SET EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU ON FIRE, STARTING WITH YOUR EYEBALLS!"…

…

….*flap*….

flap*….*flap* *flap*

….

"I don't care if you're really alive or a ghost, you'll do as I say, Winter. Hailstorm! Fly! Fly!...

…

…

…

"Would you fight alongside us? Even after… what we did to you?"

…

…

"You're my tribe, you're my family."

"But, Winter-"

"I'm sorry."

…

…

I'm sorry.

That was the only response the former prince could think of before taking off into the war-covered sky, leaving behind his winglet, teachers, and his father's fallen body to fight with his remaining family and clan.

Was it a good answer? No, not in the slightest. But when the world as you know it takes a turn for the worst, there isn't time to think things through.

Jade Mountain Academy was pushed as a symbol of hope for the dragons of Pyrrhia, both child and adult. Its purpose was to bring young dragonets from all corners of the island in order to teach them about other tribes, their cultures, and how, deep down, they all weren't so different from each other. The War of SandWing Succession was something that no one wanted to experience again, so the Dragonets of Destiny made it their goal to inform the next generation about the world so that they would know peace and not endless fighting.

The school was supposed to be the start of a bright future, but today, it seemed as if said future would die within these mountains and canyons.

All because of a bitter rivalry spanning two thousand years between two tribes and one ancient, want-to-be king.

The former IceWing prince Winter found himself fighting side-by-side with his brother, determined not to fall to the mad NightWing and his army of enchanted dragons as they made their way from the west and started to flood the sky with the color black.

Winter was no stranger to fighting. In fact, it was the one thing his parents never seemed to insult him over repeatedly. He was a leader of an army during the last war. He had dragons that looked up to him, that would fight by his side to push back any SkyWings or MudWings dumb enough to take them on. Some wins were fast, sometimes victory came at a cost, and at worst, the price was just too much to bear, and their losses had to be cut.

And yet, despite all that he had seen up to this point, this battle wasn't like any other he had experienced before. This was a first.

The air around him was nothing but chaos. There were no orders to follow, no plans to make, not even a moment of peace to catch your breath.

It was only survival-of-the-fittest in the sky, and Winter and Hailstorm were determined not to lose another family member.

The former prince watched what his brother couldn't see as one after another they released their frostbreath against their enemies. Some shots would land, causing another NightWing to fall into the valley below to their demise. Other times the shot would miss, and they would have to dodge the counterattack.

But Winter feared that one of these shots would do nothing when it landed, or worse, get reversed back at him somehow.

It would have been just a scary thought if this were a normal fight, but with a dragon like Darkstalker as an opponent, in a blink of an eye, anything could become the new reality. There was only so much an enchanted earring could protect someone from a dragon that might just being playing with them like food.

"On your right!" Hailstorm called out, and Winter didn't think. He did as his brother said and used his frostbreath on an incoming NightWing. It got the black dragon in the face, and he fell like a stone with his head frozen, unable to scream for help.

Winter scanned his surroundings once more. He was lucky that there were so many IceWings out here. If they were the tribe outnumbered, then there would be no way he'd still be in the air alive. But seeing a dozen IceWings having trouble with two or three NightWings was not the prettiest picture to paint.

And as much as he tried to keep an ear out for any commands, it was painful hearing all the screams of dragons moments before they were cut off abruptly, and a new body would soon join the others below.

A line of fire blasted right by the two dragons, and the brothers split apart briefly before Hailstorm went in close and slashed the attacking dragon in the face, causing the NightWing to slowly fall.

"That was on your end, Winter!" Hailstorm yelled through the chaos at his brother. "I can't see everything!"

"I know that!" Winter shouted back. "You think I'm not looking around for NightWings?!"

Hailstorm managed to give his younger brother a worried expression. "Of course I do. I just need you to do better, because I won't stand it if you're really dead after this."

Winter wanted to respond with something quippy, something that could relax them in this dire situation, but it was hard to brighten the mood when death truly was right around the corner.

Besides, Qibli was the one who said the quips-

"I SAID MOVE!"

Winter wished he could have that time back, because another firebreath was fired, and it was closer than the last shot, engulfing his right arm.

The former prince cried out in pain as he felt the pain sink deeper into his arm, with the flames burning his wrist strap. It was tempting to just use frostbreath on himself to make it stop, but if it were that easy, all the IceWings would have armors of ice by now.

Hailstorm fired another shot of frostbreath at the dragon, but this time, the attack turned into water once it touched their dark scales. Both brothers were taken aback as Winter realized his fear was made real.

And yet, when the NightWing got closer, Winter found himself diving at the dragon and delivering a claw to the chest, enraged by the attack.

His two claws went right into the dragon's chest, and the force caused them to sink in as the two lost altitude. Winter heard the dragon howling in pain as blood came from her chest. Winter pressed further into the dragon as she tried to recover, but Winter wasn't about to let her go.

He was determined to make her suffer for what she tried to do to him, his brother, and his clan. Her claws tried their best, but there was no losing Winter's gripe. Moon wanted to attack him, and no amount of crying could-

Moon?!

Winter spread his wings out and let her go, horrified about what he had just done. Moon continued to fall, but flipped her body around and spread her wings out as well. Luckily, they caught the wind in the nick of time before the ground caught her first.

And that was the moment he realized that the dragon wasn't Moon at all. It was just a regular NightWing that was with Darkstalker. But he could have sworn that she was Moon. He even spotted her silver markings near her eyes.

But no. It wasn't her because it couldn't be. He left Moon back on the ground, and she was with the Jade Winglet by now. Though, he couldn't say for certain. They didn't seem to be anywhere near him at the moment.

Winter hated how much he wanted to know where they were. And yet, that was the only thing on his mind.

He raced over to a small cliff where he could stand on without getting attacked. He padded his wrist strap over and over again to stop it from burning off his wrist as his eyes searched for his friends. He had a feeling that Qibli would keep all of them on the ground, since Moon and Turtle were probably frozen with fear.

His first search was at the river below, and he followed it until it neared the school, and behold, a group of two SeaWings, a RainWing, SandWing, and a NightWing were all right next to one another, looking around themselves for stray attacks.

It was them all right, and chances were that other SeaWing was Anemone, so they were well protected.

That should have been enough for him. He saw them, they were safe, and he could go back to his brother and keep him safe too...

And yet, he continued to hold onto his band, pressing the skyfire sown inside of it in his claw harder and harder.

His body was at war with itself. One half had to make sure his older brother wasn't taken away from him again, but the other half didn't want his friends to suffer.

"Gahhh!" He thought to himself. "Shut up! You know what you said. You can't take it back. You made your choice…"

"…"

"So why don't I want to listen to it?"

There had to be something he could do to satisfy both halves. He needed all of his body to work together if he wanted to make it out of this alive. If he spends too much time thinking about what to do next, then someone will make that choice easier for the worst reason.

"NOW!" Winter heard his new queen yell. His eyes darted to where her shout came from, and saw multiple beams of ice go across the wings of a giant black dragon. Once that died down, spears soon followed, flying where the ice had attacked.

Only it did nothing. The spears couldn't stick and fell down below, and the frostbreath, something that can freeze off any part of the body within seconds, was shattered by a shake of the wing, causing the shards to fly at the IceWings who fired it.

His eyes stopped. Not at the dragons getting stabbed by their own ice, or the ones that were flying, trying to avoid the debris.

As painful as that would be to see, Winter wished that was what he was watching.

But he was locked to Darkstalker's cold stare as he watched his enemies fall to their own attack, with the remaining ones getting swiped at by his claws. Only a few of them avoid getting knocked into the rock canyon by his power.

And then, the figure that haunted all the IceWing dragonets' nightmares, looked at Winter.

He couldn't move as the monster gazed upon him. His grin turned into a smile, and it only grew the more Winter shook. He knew the skyfire would stop him from digging into his thoughts, and the earring kept him safe from being enchanted.

And yet Darkstalker could look at any living being and make them feel like an ant instantly.

This king of the NightWings was going to stop at nothing in order to get what he wanted, and Winter could see that his blood-stained body was itching to get bathed in more blue blood.

Because what did an magical, immortal being have to lose?

Suddenly, the king's head turned and looked around himself, as it seemed all the NightWings fighting now had their eyes turned on him.

But what was the reason? Did they all have mindreading powers now? Could they all use telepathy too? What were they saying to each other?!

Then Darkstalker's smile was replaced with a growling as his tail slammed into the valley wall. Winter felt the ground below him shake as the cliffside held no resistance to the Darkstalker of legend and showered boulders below.

But the biggest one unnaturally flew to Darkstalker's right claw. He then began to whine his right arm up, before giving Winter a haunting grin, as if he knew what he was about to do was something Winter was going to hate.

In fear, Winter looked at which direction Darkstalker was facing, and then followed the line of sight.

And then he stopped. In horror, he knew what Darkstalker's target was.

Winter jumped, he screamed, he reached out.

All of that was pointless. It couldn't do anything to the comet that blasted into the Jade Winglet, causing a dust cloud to form where his friends were as Moon let out a painful scream.

And before he knew it, there was no more sound.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Winter flew faster than he ever did before. He dodged left and right to avoid both IceWings and NightWings as he flew to the rubble.

His tears only made flying harder for him as they flooded his sight, but he wouldn't stop.

Not when he had just lost his winglet.

CRACK*

Above him, a lightning bolt dashed through the sky, zigzagging in the air as it made its way to the ground, only to crash into the IceWing. The electricity made his limbs and muscles straighten, and Winter could feel more burning pain cover his body as he lost his grip on the air.

There wasn't time to brace himself, nor was there time to save himself from becoming another dead body on the shore.

"NOOOOOO!" Winter cried out as he raised his head up from the ground, eyelids clearing the tears from his sight. His breathing was a rapid back and forth as his heart continued to freak out.

His body felt colder than normal as he looked around himself. There was no more school, rivers, or even cliffs to speak of. No dragons dying or fighting for their lives, and no omnipresent being staring him down during his final moments.

The only thing in his hut that could be mistaken for a rock was the brown cover separating him from the outside, and that was not nearly as dangerous.

It all had felt so real. He had felt himself fighting, moving, flapping his wings, and what's worse, he felt the pain and then… death?!

He grabbed the end of his blanket and tossed it off of him as he reached for multiple body parts, making sure they were all intact. Even pinching himself hard enough to draw blood just to help him realize this was real.

And yet as real as his bedroom was, his mind couldn't shake that horrible feeling off. It may have been just a nightmare, but it had felt too real to be one, and he still could feel the aches of his body where all the cuts and broken bones were from the crash landing that never was. It was like he was pulled out of one world and into another.

"What in the three moons was that?" Was the only thing he could think of, and yet, he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that what he just witnessed was fake.

It was still fresh in his memory, and it wasn't going to be easy to shake the feeling off anytime soon.

Winter looked to the doorway a little longer before deciding to pick himself off of his bed. He wished he wasn't surprised he could do that. For now, all he needed to do was to get his mind focused on something else, and then the nightmare, like the ones before it, would fade away into the night, never to be remembered again.

He grabbed the bottom of the cover, dividing the indoors from outdoors, and pulled it over himself as the cool night came into view. It wasn't just the cold breeze that felt nice against his scales, his entire home felt peaceful during clear nights like this.

There were trees that stood tall, hosting bird nests with a mother and her chicks resting peacefully. The wind was a quiet whisper, there was little smoke coming from forgotten campfires, huts around him stood strong, and the stars shined brightly with no clouds in sight. The fact his hut was in the center of a large crater-like valley made the mountains feel bigger than they were, especially against the moonlight. It reminded him a little bit of home, and he enjoyed that.

And yet, despite being a prince at one point in his life, the atmosphere here seemed to give him a better greeting than back at the Ice Kingdom. Perhaps it was also because he could no longer see his surviving parent being disappointed in her son anymore, or his sister giving him a bad look once he was called up by the queen.

He knew that they would continue to make their displeasure with him clear with what he's been devoting his life towards for about a year at this point: Making a sanctuary for scavengers.

Winter remembered seeing scavengers in the Ice Kingdom, but it wasn't until he saw one refusing to hunt a mother polar bear that piqued his interest in them. Once his brother disappeared, it was the only thing that could take his mind off of it. While his family couldn't understand how he could care about something that couldn't even speak dragon, Winter knew that it was something he wanted to get more involved with one day.

So, what started off as an obsession that he tended to keep from others had now turned into a need to make a home for multiple scavengers in order to study how they live life.

It was a long process to get to this point. Not only did he have to catch scavengers and figure out how he was going to prevent them from escaping, but he had to find a place to put them, and then try to convince all of them to call it home.

Much easier said than done, that's for sure.

So many dragons he had to have talks with in order to get this land. So many days he was flying around looking for scavengers. Lots of hours were spent figuring out what he needed to provide them with, and many nights were sleepless because some were escaping, or he was too worried about them trying to escape. The biggest reason he slept within the sanctuary boundaries was so that the tiny creatures could get used to the white dragon living in their mists.

It had all been one long, exhausting, learning experience for Winter, some lessons better than others, but now it finally felt like it was all coming to a close.

Because in a way, this place was going to be 'finished,' and Winter could get around to doing some studies with them properly. The skies were the limit once he finished all the important stuff.

But right now, the air wasn't calming him down as much as he had hoped, and his throat was starting to get a little too dry.

Though, what better way to fix that than to get a nice, cool, drink of water from the central pond? He made it himself for the scavengers, but he enjoyed drinking from it too. He agreed with the idea and started to make his way there.

As he walked, he saw that the huts were all closed, with the scavengers sleeping peacefully. He made sure he didn't step on anything that could wake them up. Just because he had trouble sleeping didn't mean they had to suffer too.

Soon, he saw the pond. As he neared the shore, he could start to see the fish eating bugs from the surface before making their way deeper into the water. But Winter wasn't in the mood for seafood. It was too late for that. He just needed some water and then he should be good for the rest of the night.

He reached the edge, and began to drink the water, suddenly feeling the relief in his mouth as he continued hydrating himself.

After a couple of gulps, his head rose from the water as he cleared his throat, not too loud to wake up any sleeping beasts. As he went to take another sip, his eyes met with the face on the reflection, and he couldn't help but stare at it.

In the water was a shiny, silvery IceWing. The color was a light silver with a hint of blue, with sharp, straight horns standing by each ear. And lastly, the eyes were the color of the afternoon sky, but firmly gazed back at the former prince as if he were beneath him.

It wasn't strange, he wasn't born with a defect. He was just like any other IceWing, like his siblings even, but seeing his face in such a perfect shape shook him to his core.

All seemingly rooted to his nightmare.

"That's what it was, Winter. A nightmare." He thought to himself. "Just because it scared you half to death doesn't mean anything… Other than the fact you need to watch what you eat before bed."

He continued looking at his wobbly face in the pond before he began to drink a little more. The nightmare was starting to sink into his brain once more. He had to find something else to pin his mind onto to prevent it from eating him up inside.

Luckily, his answer was a small, white, female scavenger with long, blonde hair, wearing brown leather around herself. He spied her coming out from one of the many huts their kind made for their families. She had a wooden bucket in one hand, and a wooden pole with string on it in the other. Winter recognized that as some kind of fishing rod the scavengers tended to use.

From all the times he's gone to the pond to hunt, he picked up that they came here to do the same, assuming that they weren't too scared of him. But since the fish wouldn't go to the surface to get food, the IceWing noticed that instead of diving after them like he would, they used worms to try and lure the fish with. It was incredible for Winter to not only see them outsmart other creatures, but the fact they could even do it in the first place never ceased to amaze him.

They may not go inside the water like all dragons do, but he never minded that. In fact, seeing them make tools for themselves just drew his attention even more. It was reasons like this that made him want to study them.

The girl came quite close to Winter before getting a tad bit frighten and taking a couple steps back. She then turned to face the lake, and began her hunt as she tossed the line into the water. Winter couldn't believe that she was doing this so late during the night, only to then remember that said night was still young since he had stopped working for the day earlier than usual.

He thought, "How late is it?", before his mind went back to the fishing scavenger. It was just peaceful seeing the creature fish and looking calm herself.

It was simple for them. All the scavengers have it easy here. They no longer have to worry about predators eating them or destroying their homes since they all belong to Winter. There were plenty of fruits and vegetables that could be picked from bushes, trees, and dirt. If that wasn't their taste, there's always wild prey outside of the area to hunt, and when the hunting was done, or the weather was less than pleasant, they all had homes to head inside to stay safe.

And that was thanks to Winter. He made sure that dragons wouldn't dare attack his sanctuary. He bought as many seed and pre-grown trees he could find to be their food, and while the wall still needed some work, he was lucky the place Riptide gave him was pretty closed off from animals that could cause the scavengers trouble. Winter made sure that they all had materials to put over their heads. Even if they weren't as pretty as his hut, Winter couldn't help but be wowed from what they all accomplished with the stuff he gave them to build with.

But all of that work really got to him on some nights. Even on some workdays, it just felt better to stay in bed all day and rest.

Was that why he had that nightmare? Had he not been getting enough sleep, or was it the fact that the Jade Winglet was on his mind again?

Winter blinked as he noticed the girl looking at him with a curious look.

"What, are the fishes not biting tonight?" Winter asked, knowing that because scavengers don't understand dragons, he's just talking with himself.

But yet, the way she continued to look at him felt a bit off. Another first. Normally, scavengers would quickly turn the other way once Winter so much as breathed heavily at them.

So why wasn't she doing that?

"You're not…" Winter started, pointing to himself. "Listening to me, are you?"

Her response was almost nothing aside from the blinking and twitching, and that drew him in. He couldn't help but be reminded of Bandit when he first got him as a pet all that time… ago...

He looked harder at the girl before biting his tongue. His thoughts were going back to Jade Mountain again…

But maybe that would be the thing to make him forget about the nightmare, so he cleared his throat and started at the beginning.

"It was a long time ago. I had lost my brother years ago during the SandWing war, and my queen had me and my sister sent to the Jade Mountain Academy. It was supposed to be a place to learn about other tribes, and yet the way I was taught couldn't make me more closed off from listening to those lessons."

"Us IceWings are taught about our glory and pride that comes from being the most powerful tribe at a young age. In fact, I'm sure they try to make our first words, 'IceWings are the best.' The only reason I went there was because my queen ordered me to, and I ended up taking a scavenger with me. Once I arrived, I was shocked that I was put in a group of random dragons and not just with my sister and other IceWings. I grew even more impatient when someone from my winglet decided to let Bandit out of his cage I made for him, and I had to save him from other dragons before he became their lunch…"

"…And that's when I met Moon."

Winter closed his eyes as the moment played in his head. How he threatened her if she didn't give him back, only to have Qibli enter the picture, and soon, they all realized that none of them wanted to eat the scavenger.

"She was a beautiful NightWing." He continued. "And even though we were taught to never trust their kind, I couldn't shake her from my head, especially when I found out she became part of my winglet after that interaction. I was determined to find out whatever she was planning because that's what I was taught. NightWings were supposed to be nothing but trouble."

"But eventually, something happened that caused me to find out that my brother was alive, and while I wanted to go after him alone, my winglet had other plans. I managed to make one of them stay back, but Moon and two others traveled with me… and they changed my life."

He chuckled as he remembered Kinkajou's bubbling personality that couldn't shut up and Qibli's mind that always thought about the next move. He couldn't stand any of them at first, so he would remain quiet unless spoken to.

And yet, through their journey together, he grew a fondness for them, especially for Moon thanks to those nights they talked with each other. She was quiet, but was still open about how she felt. Even the fact that she could use the ancient NightWing powers of mindreading and future seeing slowly didn't bug him anymore thanks to his skyfire inside his pouch.

"During that time, I found my brother, and we decided to go home, leaving the winglet behind as I intended. Once I arrived, I became a hero for saving him, but it just didn't feel right to me anymore. After all that time I spent with them, and getting into a life-or-death situation with my tribe, I made the decision to go back to my winglet, because that was who I wanted to be with. I even brought someone back with me that I thought could be important… but…"

Winter trailed off as his mind slowly grew sour from what happened next. Almost dying to Peril was the next big event to happen, and somehow, it was just the start of the snowball rolling down the mountain.

Arguing over the scroll, watching it burn, then seeing Darkstalker escape his prison before using-

"No!" He grunted bitterly, stopping his mind from going any further. Doing this was a bad idea, and this was why. Because that was a burnt bridge.

He breathed in, and then exhaled as he continued. "… But it all… ended. I decided it was best if I went my own way, and they went their own way." He said with a heavy heart, trying with all of his might not to remember anymore events. "And that's led me here for the past..."

Year.

It's been almost a full year since it all ended. That has to be the reason he had that nightmare. It was re-entering his mind.

Was that the reason he just talked about it to someone who couldn't understand him? Was his subconscious using that as an excuse to tell him? But he moved on from all that. It was for the best he was gone from their lives and, aside from the rare letter from Qibli, they were gone from his too. He was fine… it was fine…

"… Ughhhhhh."

He moved his claw to his face and pinched his face, trying to force his thoughts to stop right there before they could run off thinking about other things they shouldn't, like about the prophecy, or that trip to the SandWing Kingdom that-

No, stop! Don't think of anything else like-

Nonoo… calm down…

Don't think about anything. Don't think about ANYTHING.

Like being contr-

NO! No more thoughts.

It's over.

It's done!

It's in the past!

"STOP IT!" He yelled in pain as the pinching caused blood to run down his face.

He opened his eyes to the clear skies, but then looked down to see the tiny stream of blue liquid go around his snout before falling into the lake.

….*Drip*….

….*Drip*….

….*Crash*

Winter's attention changed to the noise, and it was there he saw the small girl hurry into her hut, giving one last worried look before the cover swallowed her whole.

Someone being scared from his outburst. He hated how familiar that felt.

Winter sighed as he began to lay down in the dirt.

He then yawned as he began to feel tired once more. It was time to stop thinking about the past and get some more shut eye so he can focus on the future. Perhaps a change in scenery was what his mind needed all along to drift peacefully away into dreams.

He just hoped it wouldn't involve any Darkstalkers, or Qiblis, or Turtles, or Moons. He's moved on from all of that.

Any time, any place, and anyone will do.

As long as it's not then, not there, and, most certainly, not them.